Footprint

Three primary schools achieved Passivhaus accreditation today, the first school buildings to be certified in the UK:

• Oak Meadow Primary School in Wolverhampton, by Architype (completed October 2011)
• Bushbury Hill Primary School, also in Wolverhampton, by Architype (completed October 2011)
• Montgomery Primary School in Exeter by NPS, Exeter (completed in September 2011).

The accreditation for all three projects was carried out by WARM:low energy building practice with the support of the Passivhaus Institut. All three schools will be monitored to assess actual performance: the Architype schools using the Soft Landings approach and the Exeter school via Phd research at the University of Exeter funded by Devon County Council. More on the two Architype schools here.

Architype have also been collaborating with the Occupy protest movement to design a eco-village for Finsbury Square in London. More on the AJ website.

This news follows the announcement earlier last month that Architype have been granted planning permission for a new headquarters for south London community charity Peckham Settlement. The 2850 sqm project will provide a new hall, community café, training and meeting rooms, nursery, media facilities, youth lounge, and office space for the charity and other community organisations.

The proposed design uses a glulam timber frame and makes extensive use of natural ventilation and daylight to reduce operational energy use, aiming for an airtightness of 80% over UK regulations. Low flush WCs and waterless urinals have also been specified. Photovoltaic panels are expected to comply with Southwark Council’s requirement of 20% of energy from renewable sources. Overall a 47% reduction in carbon emissions over Part L legislation is targeted, exceeding Southwark’s 25% requirement.

The scheme includes a green roof which extends the length of the building and has been designed in collaboration with the London Wildlife Trust. Architype hopes to gain the ‘Biodiversity Benchmark for Green Roofs’ a new standard with is being promoted by the The Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts.

Project Facts:
Client: Peckham Settlement
Location: Meeting House Lane, Peckham, London
Project value: £6m
Status: Planning permission granted late 2011
Estimated date of completion: 2014
Structural Engineers: BUILT Engineers
Building Environment and Services Engineering: Skelly and Couch
Quantity Surveyors: Gordon Hutchinson Quantity Surveyors

Architype director Jonathan Hines spoke recently at the Energy conversations: Zero Carbon…a goal too far? seminar at the Building Centre in London, alongside Neil Jefferson of Zero Carbon Hub, Marco Marijewycz of EON, Allan Thompson of Gentoo Construction and Alsadair Young from Buro Happold.

Jonathan views the current defintion of zero carbon - based on offsetting rather than reduction - as flawed because it relies on microscale renewable . He argued that the definition needs to consider a larger scale in order to accomplish a building using less energy rather than more. He suggested redrawing the boundary to look at the entire cycle of energy and waste, so that the cycle can be completed, leaving no waste and taking into account all energy and materials. ‘This should be the work of architects. We should be doing the difficult work to achieve this through methods such as Passivhaus,’ he said.

by Ruth Dreyer, AJ sustainability intern

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